A former El Paso Independent School District administrator implicated in cheating at the school district claims in a million-dollar lawsuit filed against the district that she was a victim of retaliation for cooperating with FBI investigators.

REPORTER

Andrew Kreighbaum

EPISD trustees voted in January to terminate Anna Luisa Kell, an assistant principal at Bowie High School, and to file a report about her with the State Board of Educator Certification months after she was placed on administrative leave. Bowie employees made accusations saying she directed manipulation of student records at the district that were later documented in an audit report by Weaver and Tidwell, LLP.

But in the lawsuit filed in 346th District Court this month, Kell alleges she was a target of retaliation by the district because of her cooperation with FBI officials investigating the cheating scheme. The district knew since at least October 2011 that she was meeting with the FBI but held off on firing her because administrators did not want to be charged with obstruction of justice, according to the lawsuit.

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District officials moved forward with her termination only after learning the federal investigation was complete, according to the lawsuit.

"The district then proceeded to retaliate against plaintiff for her reports to the FBI of violations of law by discharging her from her employment and libeling her certification from the State Board of Educator Certification," the suit claims.

Online records of the state board indicate Kell is under review by the SBEC Professional Discipline Unit although her certification as a principal remains valid.

The lawsuit also alleges that former interim Superintendent Terri Jordan sought to have district legal counsel Anthony Safi present during a meeting between Kell and FBI investigators about the cheating.

As part of the scheme overseen by former Superintendent Lorenzo García, the district boosted performance on federal accountability measures by removing struggling students from the population taking 10th grade standardized tests. Some struggling students were removed from schools while others were improperly retained in the ninth grade or promoted to the 11th grade.

The EPISD board of managers will be briefed on the lawsuit in executive session at tonight's board meeting. Safi said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

"They have filed their petition and we will file a response in due course," he said.

Kell's lawsuit claims she was told by Maria Flores, a priority schools director, to reduce the number of students in the limited English proficient subgroup at Bowie regardless of credits earned. She refused that directive and also complained about other grades altered at the campus to avoid placing some students in 10th grade, according to the lawsuit. She reported those and other actions to the FBI.

On top of the termination and referral to the certification board, the lawsuit claims the district sought to libel her with a private audit produced by Weaver and Tidwell, LLP.

According to the audit report, Kell worked with former Bowie principal Jesus Chavez to improperly change after-school credit recovery courses to in-class instruction. Among other allegations, the report's authors found she directed an attendance clerk to delete student absences and of telling other administrators to "sit on" transcripts so that some students would not be promoted to the 10th grade.

The report further charged that Kell, Chavez and Flores threatened and harassed teachers who did not go along with the grade and transcript manipulation.

The district sought to terminate several other administrators named in the audit report this spring, but backed off after vocal opposition from community members and criticism of the Weaver audit. Kell's lawsuit claims the Weaver investigation was "a sham and found no legitimate reason to discharge or libel" her, although the suit does not rebut the allegations made against her or go into further detail.

Her attorney, Mark Berry, did not respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit seeks damages of more than $1 million for lost wages and benefits as well as noneconomic damages including pain and suffering.

Andrew Kreighbaum may be reached at andrew@elpasotimes.com; 546-6127. Follow him on Twitter @kreighbaum